The #MeToo Moment: Blue-Collar Women Ask, ‘What About Us?’

As the sexual misconduct scandals continue to unfold, our gender team is providing updates and analysis on the coverage and conversation in a new newsletter. Today, Susan Chira and Catrin Einhorn take us behind the scenes of their reporting into a 25-year pattern of sexual harassment at Ford. Plus, readers share their own stories.

Blue-Collar Women Ask, ‘What About Us?’

Months ago, before Harvey Weinstein was a household name and #MeToo was a movement, a group of reporters and editors gathered around a large table in our newsroom. Reporting by our colleagues had already exposed abuses at Fox News and in Silicon Valley, and the Weinstein investigation was already in the works. We wanted to examine what happened to women with little power and fewer resources.

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Women tell their stories about working at two Ford plants in ChicagoPublished OnDec. 21, 2017CreditCreditAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times

Catrin, a former public radio reporter, began talking to women in a range of industries: restaurant and retail workers, hotel housekeepers and construction workers. Susan began researching the plight of blue-collar women in manufacturing industries that used to be the preserve of men. We found that harassment was endemic in these places, from shipyards to coal mines.

We soon learned that Ford, one of America’s most storied companies, had just reached a $10 million settlement for sexual and racial harassment at two of its Chicago plants. It was not the first time the company had settled such claims, we would later find out: In the 1990s, a string of lawsuits and an investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that combats workplace discrimination, resulted in a $22 million settlement and a commitment by Ford to crack down on the problem.

We flew to Chicago, Catrin’s hometown, and began interviewing people who’d worked at Ford over the decades. Some we met at their lawyers’ office, some in coffee shops at strip malls in the Indiana suburbs where many lived. Some came to our hotel after their shifts, where we often ended up talking well into the night.

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Women tell their stories about working at two Ford plants in Chicago.Published OnDec. 21, 2017CreditCreditAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times

Their interviews were often wrenching; reliving what they’d endured left them shaken and tearful. Others were angry, or terrified of revealing their names. Over time the workers became our guides to the auto plants; Ford never allowed us inside. They explained which were the dreaded jobs — the ones in trim or chassis that involved bending, stretching, and hurrying to place parts on a fast-moving line — that some supervisors would assign as punishment if women did not yield to their advances.

One night, we headed to a bar called the Marina, where we’d heard workers from A-crew, or day shift, hung out. Fords and the occasional Mercedes jammed the parking lot. Workers in Ford sweatshirts and union insignias drank, flirted and swayed to a DJ. One man offered to buy us a drink. Needless to say, we demurred, and when we left, he put his hand under his T-shirt, mimicking the thump-thump of a beating heart.

In the end, we interviewed more than 100 people and reviewed thousands of pages of legal documents — trying to understand just how the harassment had persisted despite a quarter-century of legal and regulatory attempts to stamp it out. It became clear that while Ford took steps to combat harassment, there was much more to be done. Despite the optimism of this moment, sexual entitlement is a stubborn force, and the battle to change attitudes has only just begun.

Vox charted industries with the highest reported claims of sexual harassment — and, perhaps not surprisingly, those with the most included accomodation and food services, retail, and manufacturing fields.

What Readers Are Saying

We asked women in blue-collar jobs to share their stories of sexual harassment and abuse. Below are snippets of a few of the many responses we received, condensed and edited for clarity:

“I was sexually harassed as a female state trooper. I did not report it because other women who reported were called ‘sluts,’ given bad work assignments, and some male troopers refused to ride partner with them ... I wish I had spoken up. I quit the police force after four years due to the constant harassment. They effectively drove me out. This was in the 1980s but little has changed.” — Mary McDaniel, Philadelphia, Pa.

“All-male environments were and still are (e.g. the military) very ripe for sexual and racial abuse. I dont know any females who haven’t suffered thru this at one point or another.” — Mary Best, Salem, Mass.

“I applaud the Times for expanding their scope toward working class women. However, in addition to sexual harassment specifically, I am also interested in how women are perhaps bearing the brunt of other forms of abuse — physical, psychological, emotional — most acutely. I know sexual harassment is currently in vogue, but we do need to figure out how to expand this conversation more broadly and how to have more nuanced discussions. Bringing in different perspectives and including the voices of women who don’t have media star-power is a good start.” — Gina Blankenship, Wis.

“PLEASE: keep reporting this. We are left out of this conversation. You have no idea what a relief this is to share with someone interested in listening.” — Chelsea, Portland, Ore.